Blinded with Science...."Bouquet transplants"?!?!? Forest Floor Jelly?

WINE TALK
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/dining/02curious.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


This article is mostly about spirits but THIS got my attention:

“Sacred Gin is distilled at reduced temperatures in London by Ian Hart, a former Wall Street arbitrage trader. Mr. Hart separately distills each botanical ingredient infused in alcohol at between 100 and 125 degrees, and then blends these distillates to make the finished gin. Mr. Hart also cold distills white wines to make eaux de vie, and is experimenting with what he calls “bouquet transplants” on wines, distilling the aroma of a Sauternes and then adding it to a dry chardonnay.”

And this has GOT to relate to the Eternal Terroir Discussion, no?

“The pioneers in kitchen distillation are the Spanish chefs Joan and Jordi Roca of El Celler de Can Roca in Girona. Joan Roca rocked the food world in 2005 when he served an oyster in a clear jelly flavored with an aroma that he had distilled from a handful of forest soil.”

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Hey - that just makes it more appealing to wine geeks! If you’ve got a wine that’s not quite “there” yet, I always say just put a little terroir in it and you’re good to go!

But if I put forest floor aromas in it, I’d call it something French like sous-bois.

Rightly or wrongly, you get more mileage out of French terms than Spanish. [tease.gif]

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Roberto, in all seriousness, you are like the wine news maven. Who needs Wine Business any more! Keep up the good work. This was a funny read.

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Ian, thanks for the kind words but that was a large column in the NEW YORK TIMES, didn’t take much sleuthing…